


New Rules

by misura



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Divergent Timelines, Fix-It of Sorts, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-29
Updated: 2019-09-29
Packaged: 2020-11-07 13:36:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 512
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20818139
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/misura/pseuds/misura
Summary: Steve makes a choice between Bucky and the world. Peggy helps.Peggy makes a choice between Bucky and the world. Steve realizes the futility of arguing.





	New Rules

Steve wasn't sure how he hadn't seen this coming: you'd think that having travelled back in time from the future would give a man some heads-ups, but instead, he felt as much out of place here as he'd felt in the 21st century. (He told himself it was the people. It wasn't even a lie.)

"Heard Barnes got himself in a spot of trouble," Dugan said, beaming at him good-naturedly.

Dernier offered something in French, and Gabe chuckled

"Not dead's good," Morita said.

"Not dead's great," Dugan said. "Don't know how he swung it, really, but hey, our girl says he's alive and in need of a nice, daring rescue, the only thing I'm going to ask is where and when."

Dernier said something.

Dugan rolled his eyes at him. "Fine. Two things. So anyway, here we are."

Steve swallowed. He wanted to - but he couldn't. _He's going to be fine,_ \- and that was true, as these things went: Steve had been there, and he'd seen Bucky get there. He hadn't been there for any of the bits in between, though Fury'd let him read the file.

_He's not fine now. He needs me._ He'd told Tony and the others that they weren't going to trade in Vision's life for the world: was this really any different?

_I need him._ That was one difference, Steve supposed. _I can't - _

"You're late." Peggy looked impeccable as always. She was dressed for action, though, not for another day at the office. "I expected you days ago."

Dugan shrugged. "Be fair now, Peggy. You weren't exactly forthcoming on what you needed us for. So I figured I'd best throw a few things together, just in case." He grinned. "Anyway, we're late? How about the Captain here, eh?"

"Captain Rogers also arrived rather late. However, he, at least, had the excuse of being dead."

"Looks pretty good for a dead man," Morita said.

"Thank you," Steve said. He tried to smile, to slip back into the old role. It should be easy, he thought; it hadn't been that long ago. Not nearly as long as it would be for Bucky, when he'd met Steve again and not known who he was, or when they'd last seen each other, or anything at all.

_They brainwashed him. They destroyed his memory._ Steve shook his head and corrected himself. _They are going to brainwash him. They are going to destroy his memory. Unless we stop them._ Put like that, it wasn't a choice at all. Put like that, there'd only ever been one option all along.

_But I can't - _ and then Peggy was there, kissing him, and someone (probably Dugan) whistled, because even Dugan wasn't suicidal enough for a catcall.

She stepped back, looking him straight in the eye and said, "We're saving him, Steve. This isn't open for discussion. We're saving him, and whatever happens after, we'll deal with it."

"What if what happens next is the end of the world?" Steve asked.

"We survived it once. We can do it again," Peggy said. "Now then, gentlemen. Shall we?"


End file.
